Deadlines & Commitments - No. 131

The 2018-19 season is over and the Toronto Raptors are the unlikely NBA champions. Congratulations to Toronto as well as former Nets Jeremy Lin and Jimmy Sann who were among those holding the Larry O’Brien Trophy high at the Oracle Arena. And get well wishes go out to Klay Thompson and Kevin Durant who suffered two of the worst injuries a basketball player can suffer in back-to-back games.

Now that that’s out of the way, the off-season, the Nets most momentous off-season is underway. The deadlines come quickly starting Friday, the first day Spencer Dinwiddie can be traded (not that there are ANY rumors out there). Hopefully, the commitments come just as quickly. The Nets are waiting on free agents and preparing for the Draft. Will they be remade? Will they have moved from a rebuilding team to a contender? It will all be told in the next month.

So here goes...

June 14 - No-trade restriction lifts on Spencer Dinwiddie.

June 20 — NBA Draft, Brooklyn, NY. Hope for hometown advantage. Nets currently have the 27th (Nuggets) and 31st (Knicks) picks. Also, once the draft is concluded, summer league invitations go out to undrafted players. In some cases, those deals include training camp as well as the SL.

June 24 - NBA Awards Show — Everything from MVP to All-Rookie Team. D’Angelo Russell is a finalist for Most Improved Player. Sean Marks has a shot at Executive of the Year although if the voting had taken place this week, Masai Ujiri would win in a landslide.

June 29 — Qualifying offer deadline for Rondae-Hollis Jefferson, D’Angelo Russell. By making qualifying offer, the Nets can hold on to their rights, making them restricted free agents. But both have big capholds: $7.4 million for RHJ and $21.1 million for DLo.

June 30 — Contracts for DeMarre Carroll ($15.4 million) and Jared Dudley ($9.5 million) expire. Nets payroll commitment to Dwight Howard ($18.9 million) and Kenneth Faried ($13.3 million) end. Nets still owe one more year of stretch payments ($5.5 million) to Deron Williams.

June 30, 6:30 pm — NBA Free Agency begins. Negotiations are not supposed to begin until now, but some signings get announced immediately. So what’s with that? Restricted free agents can sign an offer sheet starting now as well. Will Nets be able to sign the big free agents, starting with Kyrie Irving? Will they sign D’Angelo Russell and get that out of the way?

July 1 — Teams can also extend players on rookie contracts. In the Nets case, that means they can lock up Caris LeVert and Taurean Prince to a long-term contract beginning in the 2020-21 season. The Nets have until October 21 to make up their minds on the two players.

July 5-July 15 — NBA Summer League, Las Vegas. All 30 teams will be represented as will the Chinese and Croatian national teams. Jarrett Allen has said he plans on playing. So have Rodions Kurucs and Dzanan Musa, both of whom missed last year’s league because of contract issues. One question: will Brooklyn bring in any of their three stashes — Isaia Cordinier (France); Aleksandr Vezenkov (Bulgaria) or Juan Pablo Vaulet (Argentina)? All are playing well and it appears that the first two worked out with the Nets in Madrid last week.

July 6 — July moratorium ends (12 noon ET). Teams can begin officially signing players, extending players, and completing trades. The Nets could have enough for at least one, maybe two, max players, depending on what they do at the deadline among other things. The Allen Crabbe-for-Taurean Prince trade can’t become official until now.

The 48-hour moratorium begins on offer sheets signed by restricted free agents.

July 10 - Team option deadline for Shabazz Napier ($1.8 million) and Treveon Graham ($1.6 million). Options can be declined earlier that the deadline, but the late deadline affords the Nets an opportunity of wait and see whether they’ll need to move money for big free agents.

July 15 - Most of the big free agents are signed by the middle of July, although vet minimum deal and two-ways can extend into August. Last season, two-way Alan Williams wasn’t signed until mid-September.

July 27 - WNBA All-Star Game, Las Vegas

August 6 - WNBA Trade Deadline

August 11 - Liberty return to Barclays Center for their only regular season game in Brooklyn vs. the Seattle Storm.

August 31-September 15 - FIBA World Cup, China. No word on who might be playing or not playing for their national teams among Nets players, stashes — or future picks. Latvia (Rodions Kurucs) and Bosnia (Dzanan Musa) didn’t qualify so they won’t be participating. Will Weaver, the former Long Island head coach, is an assistant coach for the Australian national team.

September 8 - Last day of WNBA regular season.

September 11 - WNBA playoffs begin.

September 27 — Training camp opens. Teams (like the Nets) who play preseason games overseas get a head start over the other clubs who open their camps three days later.

October 4 - Nets host Basquete Franca of Brazil in what is likely the first preseason game.

October 8 - Last possible date for WNBA Finals

October 10-12 — Nets and Lakers travel to China for the NBA China Games where they’ll play two games vs. the Lakers in Shanghai and Shenzhen.

October 21 - Last day the Nets can extend Caris LeVert to a rookie extension.